Automatic stop for railway-trains.



E. P. IESSOF.

AUTOMATIC STOP FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.I6. I9I5.

Patented J an. 8, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

l-- I I E. P. IESSOP.

AUTOMATIC STOP FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLTCATION FILED Dec. I6, 1915.

LQ, Patented Jan. 1918.

3 SHEETS "SHEET E. P. I'ESSO?.

AUTOMATIC STOP FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.16.1915.

LQQ Patented Jim. 8, 1918.

3 SHEETSSHEBT 3.

] num/Lio@ lUNllTED .t eifllllEltl' EARL I?. JESSOP, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC STOP FOR RALWAY-TRAINS.

Application led December 16, 1915.

T 0 aZZ u-wm it may concern."

lBe it known that I, EARL P. Jessen, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the city of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Stops for Railway-Trains; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to an improvement in the form of automatic stop for railroad trains set forth and claimed in U. S. Letters Patent, Number 936,905, dated October 12th` 1909, wherein the air brakes of a locomotive or train are automatically' set by certain apparatus operated by means of a tripping block or ramp beside the track, which block is caused to move into or out of operative position in accordance with track conditions ahead making it unsafe or otherwise for an approaching train to proceed.

lt is very desirable in this art to provide effectual and simple means whereby the automatic setting of the brakes may be accomplished without the use of mechanism of a movable nature applied to the road bed which is subject to interference with operative movement of such parts, as for instance bysnow, ice and dirt.

lily present invention solves this problem by the employment of cheap and simple apparatus which does not easily get out or order; and this apparatus is so contrived that the train will always be stopped, unless my improved device operates, thereby making it impossible for accidental derangements to result in the impairment of safety.

My invention is capable of embodiment in a variety of forms, some of which are illustrated by way of example in the accompanja= ing drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of the invention as applied to a locomotive and tender, a portion of which latter are shown in dotted lines; Fig. 2 is a more detailed view in side elevation, showing certain parts in section: Fig. 3 is a diagram of the preferred electrical circuits as used in the locomotive: Fig. Li is a diagram of one of manv possible arrangements of track circuits for determining' operation of the device in accordance with the conditions ahead; Fig, 5 is a sectional view of a modified forni of controlling means for Specification of Letters Patent..

Patented l an. d, imi-id.

Serial No. 67,104.

the governing circuit on the engine, Fig. 0 is a side elevation .of a modified electromagnetic preventive device, Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a modified form of circuit controlling means, involving the use of an electro-magnet on the t ain instead of beside the track, and Fig. 8 is a similar view of a portion of the same viewed at right angles to F ig. 7.

. Broadly considered, my invention may be described as comprising any mechanism on the train (which may be a steam or electrical train) whereby the movement of the train may be arrested or retarded (as for instance apparatus for operating the air brake valve, throttle or the li te) g an exterior tripping deu vice on or beside the roadbed for normally operating such mechanism when the train passes such tripping device, electrically controlled means, including a generator, on the train, for preventing operation of such first named mechanism and an electro-magnetic means for controlling said circuit comprising reacting members mounted respectively on the train and track and not requiring mutual contact to operate.

ifilhile my invention may be utilized in controlling any mechanism on the train for affecting its speed, I prefer to apply it to operation of the usual air brake valve on the loccmotive, and I have therefore shown it as employed in this way in connection with the particular mechanical devices shown in my aforesaid Patent No. 936,905. Various modificatioi'is` of the broad principle of my invention will occur to those skilled in the art whereby it may be applied to other train-controlling instrumentalities, and do not intend to limit my broader claims to the details about to be described by way of example.

As described in my said patent. the usual valve for control ,of the air brake system is shown at 10, and is normally operated by hand by means of the operating handle l1 as follows: Upon lifting the handle 11, the plunger 12, within the cylinder 13 closes the exhaust opening lei in said cylinder and places the air reservoir 15 in communication with the tcp of the operating cylinder 10, by means of the pipes 17 and 1S.

The compressed air from 15 thus acts to push down the operating plunger 19. while the air under the top enlargement thereof escapes through the pipe 20 and the normally closed exhaust opening 21 in the cylinder `tions require stoppage of the train.

13. When the plunger 19 is thus forced downward, it acts through the connecting rod 22 to open the valve 10, and set the air brakes.

. The automatic accomplishment of this end is normally accomplished as follows: A sta.;

tionary tripping block or ramp 23 is placedclose beside one of the rails in a position to receive the pressure of a shoe 24 at one end of a lever 25, pivoted at 26 on the locomotive. T he opposite end of this lever is pivotally Connected with the operating plunger 19, and-all the parts are so proportioned as to give said plunger a small preliminary7 downward movement when the shoe 24 rides upon the ramp 23. IThis causes a small movement of the valve 10, but not sutlicient to open it, since the actual opening of the valve is left for accomplishment by movement of the plunger 12. as follows:

The small preliminary movement of the plunger 19 opens communication at 27, be.- tween a branch 28 of the air pipe, and a pipe 29 leading to the bottom of the cylinder 13. This permits the air to lift the plunger 12, this working the air brake in the manner already described for hand control.

In order to prevent invariable stoppage of a train whenever it passes a fixed ramp 23. my invention comprises electrically controlled means for preventing` operation of the plunger 12, except. when track condirl.`liis preventive means acts directly by means of an electro-magnet 30, which may be employed in various ways. which will be obvious to those skilled in the art, to arrest or prevent motion of the plunger 12. I may provide a locking catch 31. normally held out of operation, as by a spring 32, but serving when drawn forward by the magnet 30, to engage a pr Yiection 33 on the handle 11, and thereby lock the plunger.

The magnet may be energized by cur` rent from a generator 34. connected to the wires 35 leading to normally separated fixed contacts 3G, preferably within the shoe 24, (See Figs. 2 and 3.) This circuit may be closed by a magnetic pivoted lever 37, shown in two different modifications in Figs. 2, 3 and 5.

In order to cause movement of the lever 37. and thus by closing the circuit at 36, energize the magnet 30 to lock the plunger 12, I place beside the track, and preferably in or under the ramp 23, an electro-magnet 38, whose poles are so close to the magnetic lever 37 as it passes as to cause its lower end to be attracted when the train passes and close the train circuit as shown in Figs. 3 and 5.

So long as the shoe 24 is lifted by the ramp` andthe operating plunger 19 is consequently in a partly depressed state, the circuit must be kept closedat 36, and to accom-H plish this, I prefer the following means:

cludes wires 40 leading to fixed contacts 41, 42, which may be bridged by the bar 43,

pressed against them by the spring 44. This bridging occurs when the plunger 19 is depressed, but, when said plunger is in normal raised position, the beveledprojection acts through the pin 46 to compress the spring 44 and open the circuit of the magnet 39, thus allowing the circuit closing lever 37 to fall back, either by gravity or under the influence of the spring 47.

rIhe closing of an electric circuit adapted to energize the magnet 38 willthus serve to prevent operation of the mechanism for stopping the train which would otherwise be brought about by the action of the ramp 23 on the passing shoe 24. It is clear that such a circuit may be combined and arrangedV in a great variety of ways well known in this art whereby track conditions ahead of a train are made to determine the state of a controllingl circuit. A great variety of arrangements are known whereby the positions of switches, bridges, semaphores, etc., are appropriately correlated to circuit conditions for purposes of this kind,\and I have illustrated merely one simple example in Fig. 4 which is representative of all.

Here each section of a block system has a generator 47, connected on the one hand with the opposite rails 48, 49 of the section and on the other hand with'a relay magnet 50 adapted to close at 51 a circuit through the local generator 52 and magnet 38 of the section behind. Vilhcn a'train is on the tracks 48, 49 it short-circuits the relay magnet 50 and allows the circuit through 38 to open. This renders the locking circuit on the train inoperative, and when the shoe 24 rides over the ramp 23 the operating` plunger 19 is made to open the air valve 10 and stop the train. If no train is on the forward block or section, the relay 50 Vcloses the circuit at 51, and the action of the magnet 38 closes the locking circuit on the train so long` as the shoe 24 is lifted bv the ramp.

In l"ig.'5 is shown a modification wherein the magnetically operated closing lever 37 is placed within a housing 53 independent of the shoe and suspended from any convenient portion of the train, as, for instance from the axle 54. In this case the magnet 38 is placed within a housing 55 independr ent of the ramp and so located with respect a catch controlled by the magnet 30. The circuits, however, will remain the same, and the operation will be as above described.

It is also within my invention to use a movable electro-magnet on the train to c0n trol the circuit of the preventive device, whether made like F ig. 3 or like Fig. 6. In such a case, a mass of iron or steel may be placed in a convenient housingbeside the track which protects it from snow and ice, and may be arranged to be brought at will within effectual distance of the passing magnet on the train. One embodiment of this idea is shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

Here the casing 53 on the aXle 54C contains in place of the lever 37, a magnet (preferably a suitably excited electromag net) 57. This magnet is pivotally mounted at 58 within the casing, and carries a niagnetic bridging Contact piece 59, for closing the circuit of the preventive means which controls the handle ll. Spring 60 may be used to assist gravity in preserving a normally vertical position oi' the magnet 57, corresponding to open circuit. 'I he magnet 39 is used to preserve closed circuit when established by the contact piece 59, in the manner already described.

In order to cause swinging of the magnet 57 at the proper time I prefer to place within a housing 61 beside the 'track a nonmagnetic pivoted drum or wheel 62 carrying a magnetic mass 63 normally held in full line position (inoperative) as shown by the weight 64.

The drum 62 is controlled by a crank arm 65 which normally rests, as shown, in contact with an operative plunger 66, moving within the cylinder 67, which is connected by piping 68, 69 to any appropriate well known pneumatic control, acting in coopi eration with switches or semaphores on an automatic block system.

It is clear that the specific control of circuits shown may be varied within the skill of the calling without departing from my invention, as, for instance, by substitution ot' normally closed for normally open circuits and vice versa. For this reason it is to be understood that the circuit-controlling means called for in my claim are not con fined specifically to means for either openu ing or closing circuits, as shown in my drawings. Other changes, which will occur to those skilled in the art, may be made without departing from my invention.

IVhat I claim is:

In an automatic train controlling system, speed governing means on the train, operat ing mechanism on the train including a movable shoe, a fixed ramp beside the rail for receiving and lifting said shoe, an elecm trically operated preventive device on the train for opposing effective action of said operating mechanism, a magnetic switch for governing the circuit thereof carried by said shoe, an electro-magnet and circuit therefor adapted to hold said switch in one position, controlling means for said last named circuit adapted to be operated by the movements of said shoe, and electro-magnetic means on the right of way for operating said magnetic switch.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature.

EARL P. JESSOP.

Copies o this patent may be obtained for tive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Entente,

Washington, D. C. 

